Tomales Bay park strategy worries environmentalists
Fears that fire prevention work would disrupt habitat for wildlife
A draft 10-year effort to restore forestland and prevent wildfires in Tomales Bay State Park is drawing criticism of plans officials say are vital to keeping the park healthy.
Park officials say the use of prescribed burns, tree cutting and herbicides will help offset the negative effects of decades of fire suppression and climate change. Environmental activists, however, argue that the work will disrupt the habitat for sensitive and endangered wildlife.
A public hearing is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Buck Hall, at the Lodge at Marconi at 18500 Highway 1 in Marshall. The session will not be livestreamed, but a recording will be posted online.
Park officials said that the lack of fire, both from natural events such as lightning strikes and from past prescribed burns by the Coast Miwok, has created unhealthy forests in the parkland bordering Tomales Bay.
Specifically, park officials said they are concerned about the potential loss of bishop pine and hardwood forests that require fires to regenerate and are now threatened by disease, pests and drought that have been exacerbated by climate change.
“The habitat in the park and the sensitive species, they will continue to degrade and really be at greater risk of wildfire if we don't take thoughtful, ecologically
focused action,” said Bree Hardcastle, an environmental scientist with state park.
The program area encompasses over 2,400 acres, with
different areas receiving different types of treatments based on local plants and wildlife, topography and other factors. Much